The Gift of Food

We have recently re-designed our Recipebox web page. It now has a greater focus on the foods indigenous to the Americas. Besides recipes, we also have a brief introduction to the history and origins of the food items. Some of the foods that were cultivated and harvested by the Native peoples of the Americas may surprise you. Did you know that the peanut and chocolate were first grown and harvested in South America and Central America respectively?

We have also doubled the number of recipes we are offering and have included images of the various food items. We hope you will enjoy this new resource and try some of the recipes. Also, be sure to check back often since we will be adding additional New World food items as well as new recipes!

Speaking of the traditions of food, I recently picked up a magazine that featured "heirloom," forgotten recipes - recipes that have been made for generations but have largely been forgotten. We all have recipes that have been passed down to us. I included one such recipe (Scalloped Corn in the corn recipe section). This recipe has been made in my family for at least 4 generations. It is a simple recipe that takes canned sweet corn - something put away during the harvest season and adds a few common farm-fresh ingredients to create a something-from-nothing dish. It is simple but tasty. And in eating it, you can appreciate the creativity of our ancestors to stretch what simple and sometimes meager food items they may have had into something more.

So in our re-launch of our Recipe pages, we would like to offer you the opportunity to submit your recipes featuring New World food items for possible inclusion in our Recipebox page. If it is a family tradition or if it has an interesting story that can be briefly shared, please feel free to send that along with your recipe. It is sometimes those bits of color and history that truly make the recipe! Send your submissions to us at friends@frontiernet.net. Thanks and enjoy!

-kim

Parks & Trails New York - Call to Action: Don't Close my Park!

Urgent: Parks to close unless you speak out!

If there's one time New York's parks need your help it's now.

The Governor's proposed budget slashes funding for state parks. If the budget passes as is, there will be no choice but to close parks, according to Parks Commissioner Carol Ash. How many and which parks are still unknown. But it's likely that one of the parks or historic sites you love and use will be on the list.

Please take just five minutes to help parks by contacting your legislators this week. Read more on how you can take action...

-kim

Beat Those Winter Blues!

About this time of the year, the sun decides not to show its face very much. The weather gets gray...the ground gets gray...people get gray...I don't know why they call it the "winter blues." It should be more like the "winter grays!"

Thankfully, I'm an avid gardener and I think it helps me not succumb to those gray-times. Starting around Christmas, my mailbox is visited by the most wonderful things - the spring seed and plant catalogs! They are filled with pictures of plants that grow in green and sunny times. Oh, how I browse through those catalogs and dream of those halcyon days of Summer and my fingers working in the dark rich Earth!

Ok, I freely admit it, I am a plant-junkie. But you know, it's not a bad thing to be. I know how to grow my own vegetables. I know how to identify many of the plants and trees around me. I know many wild, edible plants as well as the poisonous ones to avoid. I know how to grow, harvest, and use many herbs, both culinary & medicinal. I know the "invasive" plants that should be eradicated for other flora as well as fauna. And best of all, I can share that knowledge with the young people in my life.

There's a quote in the video "Get 'em Outside" by the "No Child Left Inside" group that says young people can identify 1000 corporate logos but fewer than 10 plants and animals native to their backyard. That is sad. How can you care about the world around you when you know so little about it?

So here's my winter blues beater suggestion: plan to grow something this year. Start your planning now. Check out seed and plant catalogs - many places will send them to you for free. Even if you buy local (which I always suggest!), the catalogs are great ways to learn and plan.

If you haven't gardened before, start small. Try a patio tomato. Or some marigolds. Anything easy that has appeal for you.

If you live in an apartment or have limitations on your mobility, container gardening is just the thing. Here's a great forum to ask questions on container gardening.

Already a gardener? Grow some vegetables. They taste great and many are easy as well as attractive in the garden.

Veggies not your thing? Then try growing native plants. Native plants are the plants that are indigenous to this region. They are wonderfully hardy and ideally suited to grow here. If you are an experienced gardener, this symposium on designing with native plants may be of interest.

In all your planning, make sure to stay as "green" as possible. I wrote an article on green gardening, Things to Make your Garden Greener, that may help you get growing green.

And finally, please share the beauty and wonder of this great Earth with the young ones in your life. Or share with students at a local school, at a library, or perhaps even in a community garden. I have had the opportunity to present rocks & minerals, fossils, and wild edible plants to primary and elementary school kids. I can't tell you the excitement there was to see, to touch, and to ask questions. The students were fully engaged and learning. You don't have to be an expert - a little bit of knowledge and a whole lot of love for the subject matter is all you need!

So get planning and dreaming of warmer days to drive away those gray days of winter!


-kim

The Walk Home: Journey to Native American Wellness

During Ganondagan's 2009 Native American Dance and Music Festival, Ganondagan was honored to receive guests from the Tohono O’odham Nation. The article below is based on an interview conducted with Terrol Dew Johnson, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Tohono O’odham Community Association during the group's visit:

Walkers from the Tohono O'odham Nation were welcomed warmly at Ganondagan's 2009 Native American Dance & Music Festival

L to R, Maray Johnson (age 14), Shane Johnson (age 16), Terrol Dew Johnson and G. Peter Jemison (Seneca). Photo by David Mitchell.

Terrol Dew Johnson is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Tohono O’odham Community Association (TOCA), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating a healthy, sustainable and culturally vital community on the Tohono O’odham Nation.

If you had told him 19 years ago that he would be walking with family members from Bar Harbor, Maine to his home in Southern Arizona where the Tohono O’odham Nation is located, he’d probably have looked at you in skeptical disbelief.

In July, Terrol, his niece and nephew took time out of their 3000 mile walk to participate in the annual Native American Dance & Music Festival at Ganondagan State Historic Site in Victor, NY. where he shared insights about his mission.

“I was fortunate to grow up with my grandparents. My grandfather was a Medicine Man and my grandmother was knowledgeable about herbs and plants. I was raised with the idea that I should help my family and my people.”

Terrol learned basketweaving at an early age and traveled the world through his art, but brought his skills home to share with his people.“I was giving basket weaving lessons and the size of the classes was starting to outgrow my home when a Missionary came to our Nation. He wasn’t like many, only interested in sharing his beliefs. He was my age and interested in our indigenous foods and gardens. He was also knowledgeable about grant writing.

“When I discovered he was doing gardening, I went to visit him. As we talked and found out more about each other, he offered to write grants to provide services that would enrich the community. That was the beginning of TOCA.”

Today, under the nurturing efforts of Johnson and TOCA business partner, Missionary Tristan Reader, the non-profit organization has grown in size and scope. The organization’s activities include Food System and Wellness initiatives, a Basketweavers’ Guild, Arts and Cultural Revitalization, Youth & Elders Programming and Food and Fitness Collaborations. Johnson and Reader have achieved most of the things they set out to do including growing the farm to 1800 acres, building classrooms in which to teach, founding an art gallery and a café and offering enhanced economic opportunity to the community.

So how does that lead to a 3,000 mile walk?

“For most of my life, I’ve been focused on my people, but I realized if I didn’t take better care of myself, I wouldn’t be there for them. I am a diabetic and I wasn’t eating right or getting exercise. I needed to make a stand, which is how ‘The Walk Home: Journey to Native American Wellness’ came about. The walk is a fundraiser for TOCA, but it’s also meant as an inspirational message to the Native community.”

Johnson enlisted four nieces and nephews, age 12 to 16 to join him in his walk.

“Like many of our people, my family members are dealing with painful situations at home – drugs, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, premature death – and I wanted to share the world with them and give them hope for change.”

Two of the four young people who started out have returned home due to family complications.

“I was really upset at first, but I realized I just had to ‘Let Go, Let God’ and believe there was a reason for their early return home.”

It was by fortuitous coincidence that Terrol and his two companions arrived at Ganondagan in time for the late July Festival.

“When I was looking at our route, I put a message out on Facebook, asking for contacts in this area. A mutual friend, Loretta Oden who has been a chef at Ganondagan’s Native Foods Feast, suggested I contact Jeanette [Miller] and Peter [Jemison].

“Since we’ve been here at Ganondagan, the outpouring of support and friendship has been amazing. People have come up and given us food baskets and money. They’ve offered prayers and blessings. I’m used to caring for others, so it feels odd to have others taking care of me. I’m certain there will be future collaborations between TOCA and Ganondagan.

“If there was something I’d like others to take away from our walk, it’s that there are people out here who are trying to make a difference. That’s why we’re walking.”

For more about TOCA, The Walk Home: Journey to Native American Wellness, or to make donations toward this initiative, visit http://www.tocaonline.org/.

By Carol White Llewellyn

Photo by David Mitchell.

Winter Games & Seneca Snow Shoe Run

While I dearly love the quiet stillness that the winter season brings, we all have to get out of the house, move around, and enjoy the crisp winter air. A perfect way to get some winter fun is to visit our Native American Winter Games and Sports event on February 6, 2010, 10am - 4pm.

The event is FREE to the public and features:

• Dog Sledding
• Story Telling
• Food
• Snowshoeing
• Snow Snake
• "Seneca Winter Camp" Demonstrations

See all the Native American Winter Games and Sports event details at our Winter Games web page.

New this year to the Winter Games event, we are adding a Seneca Snow Shoe Run Competition. This three part competition includes a snow shoe run on a course laid out at Ganondagan, an archery shoot, and the snow snake throw. The competition has two levels: The Pro Snow Shoe Run and the Fun Snow Shoe Run.

Please see our Seneca Snow Shoe Run web page for more details and registration information.

I hope to see you there!!

-kim

Giving Thanks for 2009 and All Who Contributed

For Ganondagan, 2009 has been a very busy year! We wanted to share news of some of our accomplishments and the many things for which we’re thankful:

• Green Initiatives – This year, we strengthened the focus on environmental practices at our Native American Dance & Music Festival, implementing the use of solar power for the stage area and a waste station to sort trash for recycling and composting.
• Expanded Programming – Throughout the summer, we offered our new “Savor the Summer” series, which was free to Members. This series was so popular that we’ll be offering many of the favorites along with new events next summer. We also offered a bus tour to the Rockwell Museum of Western Art, and hosted a very successful Native American Dance & Music Festival, a sumptuous Native Foods Feast and a Living History event that were offered to members at discount.
• Garden and Trail Projects – Next year, when you visit Ganondagan’s gardens, new signage will identify the various plants. Thanks to Brendan Marozas, Tay House Scout Troupe 19 and Ganondagan’s Steve Richman, a new walkway was added to The Earth is Our Mother Trail.
• Website revamp – We’ve reinvigorated our website. You can now become a member or renew your membership online, sign up to receive our e-newsletter, donate to Ganondagan and discover many new resources such as a more comprehensive online calendar, online videos, a page on wampum belts, a recipes page and more.
• News Sharing – This year, we stepped into the world of Social Media in a big way. In addition to our Blog (http://ganondagan.blogspot.com), we launched a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a monthly e-newsletter. If you would like to receive this newsletter, simply email friends@frontiernet.net with the subject line “Add me to e-newsletter list.”
• Partnering – This year, we have successfully partnered with a number of organizations and would like to thank Wegmans, Nazareth College, Rochester Institute of Technology, St. John Fisher College and many of the heritage attractions in Ontario County for their friendship, collaboration and support.
• New Products – The Friends of Ganondagan created new books and booklets, as well as Children’s Discovery Kits that were for sale in our gift shop. Next year, we’ll add a number of new children’s books written by Ganondagan’s Executive Director, Jeanette Miller, and books written through our partnership with Nazareth College. Mark your calendar now to attend Inside/Out Haudenosaunee at Nazareth College Arts Center on February 14 from 2 PM-4PM for the opening of an Iroquois Art Exhibition curated by Peter Jemison and a book signing of all our new releases!

Finally, without our loyal and dedicated Board Members, Volunteers and Staff, we could not have accomplished all that we have done this year, so CHEERS TO YOU!

Website updates & more!

If you haven't visited our website recently, you've missed a lot of changes. We've:

• Reorganized our menu and navigation options

• Added a new interactive events calendar
• Added online payments for new member registration and membership renewals
• Added a holiday membership special
• Added new donation and giving pages, including online donation payments
• Added a volunteering page
• Added electronic newsletter email list sign-up. Our electronic newsletter has different content than our print newsletter.
• On-going effort to add more content including articles, videos, slideshows, and more.

Please come and pay us a virtual visit!


-kim

ps....if you are curious about the corn in the picture above, it is a picture of the Heirloom Native variety of corn I grew in my vegetable garden this year called "White Eagle." It is a Cherokee variety of corn that was carried by the Cherokee people over the Trail of Tears. It is a historic and beautiful corn with a great variety of color as visible above. If you are interested in trying some yourself, this is the place I purchased the seed from. Enjoy!